Samsung Pay to Make Its U.S. Debut

Posted on 8.13.2015

Samsung Pay is debuting in the U.S. on September 28th.

According to the company’s announcement, the mobile payment service will first launch in Korea on August 20, followed by a launch in the U.S. on September 28 and eventually will roll out to the U.K., Spain and China too.

Samsung Pay will enable users to make purchases nearly everywhere cards are accepted and will be preloaded on select Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note5 devices. What’s more, a free software upgrade will be rolled out in August to enable Samsung Pay on Galaxy S6 and S6 edge devices in the U.S. and Korea. Select users will be able to participate in a beta trial from August 25 ahead of the launch in September.

“With the launches of these exciting new smartphones, we will open a new era of mobile payment. This is Samsung’s brave step forward to enhance our mobile experience,” said JK Shin, CEO and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. “It is easy, safe, and most importantly, available virtually anywhere you can swipe a card, in most cases without new costs for merchants, from day one.”

To leverage the mobile payment service, users simply need to swipe up, scan their fingerprint and pay. It is also worth noting that Samsung Pay leverages tokenization, dubbed Samsung KNOX, and fingerprint authentication for security and to reduce risks that are associated with plastic cards. Additionally, the service leveraged Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) and Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies, which means that it works with most existing point-of-sale (POS) terminals.

“The future of mobile payments has arrived,” said InJong Rhee, EVP of Samsung Electronics, Global Head of Samsung Pay. “We are partnering with card networks, issuers and acquirers, and Samsung Pay will also be the first to support contactless payment for store-branded credit cards. The list of partners will only grow.”

Samsung says it is anticipating partnerships with payment networks like American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa, as well as major banks like Bank of America, Chase and U.S. Bank. Lastly, Samsung is also looking at financial partners like First Data, Synchrony Financial and TSYS, as well as major Korean companies.

"We leverage our unique technology and capabilities to provide our customers with seamless, differentiated experiences, giving them more flexibility and choice for how to pay," said Tony Prentice, vice president of mobile payments at American Express. "As part of that strategy, we are excited to work with Samsung to offer Card Members a new, innovative way to pay in-store with an American Express Card on their Samsung devices."